


Selfless Acts

by iloveromance



Category: Superstore (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-16
Updated: 2018-06-21
Packaged: 2019-03-31 06:24:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13969227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iloveromance/pseuds/iloveromance
Summary: When Amy makes a random comment about her past at an employee meeting, Glen is forced to terminate her employment. When a shocked Jonah tries to help her, a misunderstanding occurs and jeopardizes their almost-romantic relationship. An ongoing story that will contain at least ten chapters, possibly more.





	1. Chapter 1

"I'll be in the back, so I need that announcement pronto. You got that?"

"Got it." Amy sighed at Dina's drill Sargent persona. "A simple request would have been enough." She mumbled under her breath. But when Dina froze and turned around, Amy felt a chill run up her spine.

"What was that?" Dina demanded.

"Um, nothing. I was just... I-."

"Announcement, Amy. Now!" Dina barked.

Amy marched over to Garret's booth at the Customer Service desk, unable to take it any longer. She picked up the microphone and pushed the button.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" He shouted. "No one uses this mic but me!"

"Well, I'm using it now, got it?" Amy snapped. She looked around, horrified when she realized that she'd just broadcast her frustration to everyone in the store. Garret, however, was amused by the situation, judging by the way he was laughing at her.

"Way to go. Now why don't you let the expert handle it?"

"No way! I think I can handle a simple microphone!" She pushed the button and sighed. "Secret meeting of all Cloud Nine employees in the break room in ten minutes!"

"Well it ain't so secret now is it?" Garret chuckled.

She gasped once again, horrified when she realized what she'd done. But it was too late now.

"Don't blame me, blame Dina!" She said. "She's the one who wanted this stupid meeting in the first place."

"Okay, well I guess we'll all head to the break room for this not-so-secret meeting." Garret said. He shot Amy a look before wheeling himself to the double doors.

With a sigh, she turned to see the trail of employees who were making their way to the break room. And after a moment she decided to follow them. When she arrived, she was surprised to find that the break room was nearly filled to capacity. This was not good at all.

"What's this?"

"You called a secret meeting remember?" Mateo reminded her. "Well, here we are!"

Amy rolled her eyes at Mateo, who stood in the middle of the room, his arms outstretched to demonstrate that they were in fact, all in the break room.

"Thank you Mateo." She replied with as much sarcasm as she could get away with. And it was a lot. She'd had a lot of practice since she'd been hired all those years ago at Cloud Nine. "But what I meant was why is the whole store here? Who's watching the registers?"

Adam grinned. "Well, probably no one."

Amy's eyes widened. "What?"

Jonah shrugged. "You said all Cloud Nine employees and not just some."

"Yeah, but I didn't mean-."

Glenn gasped and began ushering several of the employees out of the room. "Hurry up!" He shouted. "The store could be in complete chaos by now!"

"Glenn, relax!" Jonah said. "The store practically runs itself!"

They all stopped and stared at him as though he was crazy… and everyone knew that he was, but Jonah being Jonah, simply shrugged.

"So…" Amy began. "I think it's about time that we got this meeting started. But actually-."

Dina moved to the front of the break room, placing her hands authoritatively on her hips. "All right, listen up! I have a confession to make!"

The employees began to murmur among themselves until Dina shushed them back to order. "The truth is… Amy didn't call this secret meeting. I did!" To emphasize her point, she used imaginary quotation marks in the air to designate secret meeting. And as Amy expected, the employees began to complain.

"But I had good reason!" She yelled, trying to be heard above the chatter.

"It damn well better be a good reason." Garret said. "Do you realize what you're keeping us from?"

Her eyes narrowed and Amy noticed a look that passed between Dina and Garrett. It was a look that Amy didn't quite understand. But Garrett was smiling and Dina's face, surprisingly, was flushed.

"Yeah, we'll discuss that later." Dina finally said. "But right now I have a very serious matter to discuss."

Amy groaned. "Oh God, Dina is this about the fruit theft again? Come on guys! Will the person who stole the stuff just confess already? No one's perfect. I mean I used to shoplift from stores all the time!"

Glenn's eyes widened. "You did?"

"Well yeah. Everyone did!"

He came closer. "You were a shoplifter?"

She sighed in exasperation. "Yes, Glenn. I was a shoplifter!"

"Shoplifting… " he repeated. "That's stealing!"

"Yes Glenn, I'm aware that shoplifting is stealing. And it was a long time ago. I was seventeen! And now I'm-."

He folded his arms in front of his chest and his eyes narrowed. "Old enough to know better."

She rolled her eyes. "Yes Glenn, I'm old enough to know better. Which is why I don't do it anymore!"

She hoped that her boss would simply go away but instead he came closer.

"What did you steal?"

"Come on Glenn, it's no big deal. And anyway it was a long time ago."

"I don't know…"

"Glen, Amy's right." Jonah said. "It's not a big deal. Now don't you think that we should all get back to the store?"

"Absolutely! Everyone, get back to work, all right?"

"What about the meeting?" Garrett asked. "Aren't we, you know… supposed to meet?"

"Meeting adjourned." Glenn announced.

They all nodded in agreement and began filtering out of the break room in a sea of blue vests.

"Well, that was…"

"Totally unproductive." Amy finished as they walked back into the store. "I still have no idea what the point of the meeting was. And look at this place!" She gasped at the sight of the Cough and Cold Aisle of which the contents were scattered everywhere. "God it's going to take forever to clean all of this up and restock it, not to mention facing the shelves! I have better things to do with my day!"

Jonah appeared by her side. "I'll help you."

She looked at him in amazement. "You will? But aren't you supposed to be in Cleaning Products with Cheyenne?"

"She'll be fine. Please… let me help you."

Without giving her a chance to respond, he walked to the center of the aisle and knelt beside her where she was busy picking up tiny boxes of stomach remedies that were scattered all over the floor and put them neatly in a pile at her feet. When his arm brushed against hers, she shivered and smiled gratefully at him, but looked away the moment they made eye contact. She was doing her best to appear annoyed, although she was well aware that it wasn't working.

Seconds later they were working together, sorting and stacking the hundreds of colorful boxes containing remedies for almost any kind of illness. And although it was hardly work that she enjoyed, she found that she couldn't stop smiling.


	2. Chapter 2

She was so busy stacking the tiny boxes onto the shelves that she hardly realized that the job was almost finished. But when she glanced at the dingy white tiled floor, it was amazingly free of boxes.

"Well, that's the last of it." Jonah announced, stepping back to admire his hard work.

Amy had to admit that he'd done an amazing job. Every row was neatly arranged in alphabetical order, from Alka-Seltzer to Zantac and everything in between. The shelf was now a rainbow of colors. Glenn would definitely be impressed. She smiled at Jonah, prepared to say something witty, but when they locked eyes she suddenly felt incredibly shy. This was definitely not like her at all. Taking a deep breath, she gathered the courage to say what was on her mind. But all she could manage was;

"H-hey, thanks for helping me."

He smiled. "No problem."

"Yeah, it would have taken me hours to clean all of that up."

"We make a good team, don't we?"

His words surprised her and were perhaps the reason for the tiny little flip of her heart. "Yeah, we do. I-." When her cell phone rang, she nearly jumped at the sound it made and reached into her pocket to answer it.

"Yeah?"

"Amy, this is Glenn. I'm, the manager of the store."

She tried not to laugh. "Yes, Glenn. I know who you are."

"I need to see you in my office right away! It's a very important matter! It's urgent!"

"Okay Glenn, I'll be right there."

"Good, because it's-."

"A very important matter. Urgent. I know." She hung up the phone and sighed.

"What was that all about?" Jonah wanted to know.

"Glenn wants to see me in his office right away. Probably wants to tell me about the present he bought his wife."

"Okay, well I'll just finish up here and-."

Suddenly a group of kids came tearing down the aisle, nearly knocking Amy over. The kids' arms were outstretched and as their fingers ran over the neat row of boxes, the merchandise teetered like dominoes, sending them to the floor.

"Damn it!" Amy yelled. "Don't parents pay attention to their kids anymore?"

The kids just laughed and began pushing the boxes around the floor with their feet, causing Amy to cringe as they stepped on a few.

"Stop it, you brats!" She yelled, doing her best to shoo them away. "Stop that right now!"

The kids scattered, but one pudgy faced boy in a faded striped shirt simply stood and stared at her. "I'm not a brat!"

"Yes, you are! Look what you've done! Do you realize how hard Jonah and I worked on this aisle?"

The kid shrugged. "So?"

"So if you don't get out of here, you're going to be sorry!"

"What are you going to do, hit me?"

"Oh, I'll do more than hit you!" Amy snapped. She lunged at the kid, causing him to shriek.

"I'm telling my dad!"

"Fine, tell him! See if I care! Just stay away from us, all right?" Amy yelled as he tore through the store. She was about to start helping Jonah when her phone rang again. Reluctantly she reached into her pocket to answer it.

"What?"

"Do you or do you not understand the meaning of the word urgent?"

"Yes, of course I do, Glenn. It's just that-."

She could hear him clacking on his keyboard. "According to the Webster's Dictionary site, Urgent means-."

"Yes, I'm well aware of what the word urgent means, Glenn! I'll be right there, okay? Some kids just made a mess out of the aisle that Jonah and I were just working on! If you'll give me a few minutes, I need to help him." She hung up the phone without giving Glenn a chance to respond.

"Don't worry about it." Jonah said. "I'll take care of it."

She glanced around at the river of tiny boxes that once again littered the floor. It would take Jonah another hour to clean them up. "No, let me help you, okay? It was my fault. I should have been paying more attention."

"Look, you really don't want Glenn mad at you. I mean, I've never seen him mad; not that I know of anyway, but-."

"No, it's fine. I'll just stay here and help you." Her phone rang again but this time she ignored it. However, Jonah was watching her.

"Just go, Amy. I'll be fine."

She hesitated, feeling helpless. "Well, all right, but-."

He shooed her away with his hand, causing her to turn around. But she paused at the end of the aisle. "Look, I'm going to tell him what a great job you did with this aisle, all right?"

"Sure, whatever."

Her heart pounded in her chest and she practically floated through the double doors before turning down the hallway that led to Glenn's office. This was going to be the best meeting ever.


	3. Chapter 3

She was bubbling with excitement as she stood in front of Glenn’s door and knocked. 

“Come in!” 

She opened the door and stepped inside. “Glenn, before we talk about whatever it is that you want to talk about. I have to say that Jonah-.” She froze when she realized that she and Glenn weren’t the only ones in the room. Jeff and Dina were there as well. 

“Oh, I didn’t realize that this was a group meeting. I came as fast as I could because you said it was urgent, but-.”

“Close the door.” Dina ordered. 

Amy’s eyebrows rose. “Okay…” She pushed the door closed and turned to Dina, producing a fake smile. “What’s going on?”

“Have a seat.” 

Her eyes locked with Dina’s and she lowered herself into the chair that sat directly across from Glenn’s desk. Her eyes searched the three faces before her, hoping for any sign of what this impromptu meeting was all about. 

“So…what’s going on?” She asked again. 

Dina cleared her throat. “It’s come to our attention that you recently admitted to shoplifting.”

“Recently as in-.”

“As in just about an hour ago in the meeting we had in the break room.”

“Oh, you mean the secret meeting that was supposed to be a secret meeting but somehow managed to include every employee in the entire store?”

“That’s the one.”

“Okay, so what was it that I confessed to stealing?”

“If you don’t remember, I shouldn’t have to tell you.” Dina said. 

Amy thought for a moment and then laughed. “Oh, you mean that! Right. Yeah, I used to do that all that time!” 

Glenn leaned forward. “So what did you steal?”

“Black eyeliner. I was going through a phase.” 

The three mangers exchanged glances and Jeff began writing in his notebook. “I see…” he said in that slow manner that Amy absolutely hated. 

“Wait. What’s going on here?” 

“Stealing is a Federal offense.” Dina pointed out. 

“Yes, I’m well aware of that.” 

“And it says here on page…” She picked up the small flat white book with the Cloud Nine logo on it and began flipping through the pages “…thirty nine that any employee caught shoplifting will be immediately terminated!”

“Right and that’s how it should be. So if I see anybody shoplifting I’ll definitely let you know! Now I really should get back to work. Jonah-.” She rose from her chair but froze when she noticed that Jeff was holding up his hand. 

“Not so fast! Have a seat.”

Slowly she lowered herself back into the chair. “What’s wrong?”

Dina took Jeff’s notebook from his hands and began to read. “It says here that during the meeting that was held in the breakroom-.”

“The one where EVERY employee came.” Amy pointed out.”

“Right. Anyway, it says that you willingly confessed to shoplifting from the store.”

Unable to help herself, Amy laughed out loud. “I guess I did, didn’t I? But I was just comparing what I had done to the fruit theft!” 

Dina shrugged. “Well, I’m afraid a confession is a confession.”

“Hey, wait a minute. That never happened at this store!” Amy protested. “I was seventeen, Dina! Seventeen!” 

“It doesn’t matter. Rules are rules.” Dina’s eyes moved to Jeff who was once again writing in his notebook. 

Amy’s mouth fell open. “Are you kidding me? You’re writing me up? Oh my God, this is… insane!” 

Dina simply shrugged. “Sorry, you don’t follow the rules, you suffer the consequences.”

“Yeah, but why would you write me up for something that happened before this store even existed?” 

Once again, the three mangers glanced at one another. 

“I don’t think you understand what’s going on here.” Jeff said. 

“No, I don’t!” Amy shrieked. “So would someone mind telling me?”

“Um, maybe I should talk to Amy alone.” Glenn said. “I am her supervisor.”

Dina shook her head. “No way. The handbook says-.”

“It’s fine, Dina.” Jeff said. He stood and began to guide her out of the office. “Just get back to work. Glenn can handle it.” He then looked at Amy and frowned. “I’m sorry.”

“You’re sorry? Sorry for what?” But her question was ignored as she watched Dina and Jeff walk out of the office, closing the door behind them. 

“Glenn, what is going on?”

Glenn sighed, looking dejected. “I really hate to do this, Amy. I really do.” 

“Do what?”

“I wish that Dina could have done it. She’s much better at this than I am. You know that. Or Jeff! Yeah, he’s a much better person to do things like this.”

“Dina? Jeff? Glenn what in the hell are you talking about? Writing me up? I didn’t do anything wrong!” 

“But I’m your supervisor and as your supervisor, it’s my job to do it.” 

“Fine, write me up, but can you be quick about it? I really need to get back to the store.”

“I’m afraid I have to do more than just write you up, Amy.”

“What are you saying?”

“It’s hard to explain.”

“Well, try, all right? I have no idea what in the hell is going on here.”

“Oh, all right. I’ll tell you. But believe me, this isn’t what I want to be doing right now.”

She threw up her hands in exasperation. “Glenn! Just say it!” 

“I’m afraid I’m going to have to let you go.”

She stared at him, certain that she heard him wrong. “What?”

“Amy… you’re fired.”


	4. Chapter 4

For a moment she sat perfectly still, unable to believe what was happening. And finally she forced herself to speak. “I-Oh my God, you’re firing me?” 

Glenn nodded sadly. “Yes, I’m afraid so.”

“What? I’m fired? I’m really fired?”

“Please don’t make me say it again.”

“But I didn’t do anything wrong!” 

"Well, technically you did.”

“Glenn, come on! You and I both know that I have never stolen anything in this store! There’s not even anything here worth stealing! You said so yourself! Can’t I talk to the Union Rep or somebody?”

“We don’t have a union. Not anymore anyway. The dues were too high, remember? You lead the fight to have them removed. And you won!” 

“Glenn-.”

“Look, I don’t like this any better than you do, but like Dina says, rules are rules.”

“Dina is a freaking idiot!” Amy yelled, realizing that calling the Assistant Manager of the store an idiot was certainly grounds for termination. She could barely meet Glenn’s gaze. “Look, when I said that about shoplifting the black eyeliner, I was just-God, I was venting about the damn fruit theft! Dina just won’t let it go! But now that I think about it, stealing fruit is a lot more serious than stealing black eyeliner!” 

“It’s still stealing!” Glenn said. “And stealing is wrong! It says so in the Bible!” 

Amy’s eyebrows rose. “No it doesn’t.”

“Yes it does. Right here.” He reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a familiar white book. 

“That’s the employee handbook.” Amy said.

“Well, it’s the Bible to me.”

"Look, can’t you make an exception? Just this once? You know I’m a good employee, Glenn! I know that you know it!” 

He hung his head low. “I’m sorry, Amy. I can’t.”

“Of course you can. I’ve seen you make exceptions for people all the time. I mean, Bo-.”

“Well, he’s Cheyenne’s husband.”

“Yeah, and he was sleeping on the shelves while he was supposed to be working! And have you forgotten about how he flipped us all off right before he quit?”

“No, I haven’t. That wasn’t nice of him at all.”

“Nice? You want me to be nice?” She yelled. “I’M ALWAYS NICE!” 

Glenn shook his head. “You’re not being very nice now.”

Her chest began to tighten. “So what about me?”

“I’m sorry, but Jeff’s my boss and what he says goes.”

“So I have to go, too.”

“I’m afraid so.”

She bit her trembling lip, willing the tears that filled her eyes to remain at bay. “I’m divorced, Glenn. “

“I know. That’s gotta be tough.”

“And I have a daughter.”

“Yes, Emma.”

“Right. Emma’s my daughter, Glenn. How am I supposed to take care of her?”

“I’m sure you’ll have no problem finding another job. I’ll write you a good recommendation and I won’t even mention the shoplifting.”

“Because I didn’t shoplift from this store!” 

“I’m sorry.”

“So this is it?”

“I’m afraid so.” He repeated. 

“Okay, well then where do I sign?”

He handed her a pen and the familiar pink pieces of paper. “You know the routine.”

“I sure do.” She said, aware of the way her voice was quivering. Her hand trembled as she put the pen to the paper and began to sign her name. She signed her married name, almost forgetting that she was divorced but she didn’t even care. What would they do to her if she signed the wrong name to a termination paper? Fire her a second time?

“Good luck to you.” 

Her legs felt wobbly as she stood and looked at Glenn uneasily. “Well, I guess this is it.”

“You can clean out your locker and then put your vest-.”

“Yeah, I know where it goes.”

They stood in silence and then she took a deep, shuddering breath. “Well I’ll see you, Glenn.”

“Goodbye, Amy.”


	5. Chapter 5

She walked into the hallway and closed the door behind her feeling as though she was having an out of body experience. Woodenly, she made her way to the break room, relived to find it empty. Her eyes moved to the rack that hung on the wall. It was what they called the "Cloud Nine Former's Vests"; Vests that belonged to former employees and were waiting for new employees to adopt them. There were only a few vests hanging on it and soon hers would be one of them. She swallowed hard, unable to believe that it was really happening.

She peeled out of her vest, her eyes glistening with tears. But she couldn't cry. She couldn't risk anyone seeing her like this. Carefully she unfastened the light blue wooden heart shaped pin and removed it from the vest. She pinned it to the bottom of her sweater, hoping that her daughter wouldn't notice. It was going to be hard enough slipping out of the store without anyone seeing her. But even worse would be trying to explain to her daughter why she was wearing the pin on her sweater instead of her vest.

Suddenly the realization that she no longer had a job hit her full force. Never again would she walk into the break room and pick out her name badge for the day. Rebecca… That was the name she had chosen, having no idea that it would be her last day on the job. She couldn't imagine never listening to Mateo go on and on about his crush on Jeff or Cheyenne telling her about how Harmonica did the "cutest thing ever" but she forgot to take a picture. She swallowed hard, painfully aware of how hard it had become to hold in her tears.

Hurriedly she cleared out her locker and stuffed all of her belongings into a Cloud Nine Shopping Bag. As casually as possible she walked out of the break room and through the double doors that led to the store.

When she reached the Customer Service desk, she cringed.

"Hey Ames." Garret waved and flashed her a smile. "How's it going?"

"Horrible." She muttered. That was the understatement of the century.

But Garrett only laughed. "That bad, huh? Well, if you're stuck in here I guess that's the only thing it could be."

She sighed. She'd give anything to be able to stay in the store longer. Thoughts of her future (Or what was left of it) began to creep into her mind, but she pushed them away. She'd have plenty of time to think about that later, when she was stuck at home watching reruns of bad 70's TV shows and eating a pint of Ben and Jerry's Double Chocolate Fudge.

She laughed half-heartedly at Garrett's comment. If he only knew the irony of it.

He shrugged. "Well, that's life I guess."

"It sure is. Well, I've gotta go. See you around, Garrett."

He looked at his watch. "What, now? It's barely one o'clock. I thought you were working till seven."

"What are you, my keeper now?" She snapped.

He held up his hands in protest. "Whoa, take it easy, all right? What's going on?"

"Nothing, all right? I'm sorry, I'm just…Look, I really have to go, okay?"

"Ok sure. But why so early? I thought you said you were working a double."

"I did say that, but…" She took a deep breath, praying that her emotions would stay intact. "Um… Emma needs me. I have to go, really. Goodbye."

"But-."

She could feel his eyes on her as she moved quickly through the store making a beeline for the exit. When she reached the parking lot, she kept her eyes straight ahead, grateful that she'd been able to find a close parking space in the Employee Parking Section. At least there was minimal chance that she'd be spotted; or so she hoped.

"Amy! Wait up! Where are you going?"

She froze and squeezed her eyes shut. Going unnoticed, it seemed, wasn't in the cards. For when she turned around, she saw the last person on earth she wanted to see;

Jonah.


End file.
